The present invention relates generally to refrigerators of the type wherein the high-side portion of the refrigeration system is arranged in a machinery compartment which is isolated from the food storage compartment of the refrigerator, and more particularly to a unitary system including the compressor and auxiliary condenser arrangement which are resiliently mounted on a base member so as to vibrate in unison.
In refrigerators using a natural convection condenser system, the condenser is usually mounted on the back wall of the refrigerator. Depending on the type compressor used it may be necessary to provide an auxiliary condenser for the purpose of providing oil cooling. This added volume of tubing must either be accommodated by placing it in the same area of the condenser in which case the condenser must be made taller or the refrigerator must be maintained a further distance from the wall on which it is to be arranged. In the alternative, the auxiliary condenser may be arranged in the machinery compartment as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,721,451 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,679,144, both assigned to the General Electrical Company, the assignee of the present invention.
Some refrigerators include means for automatically defrosting the evaporator upon which frost forms and collects. Often such refrigerators also include means whereby moisture resulting from a defrosting operation is evaporated into the atmosphere outside the food storage compartments and thereby disposed of. One arrangement for so disposing of the defrost moisture as shown in the above referenced patents includes using the auxiliary condenser in the machinery compartment and a drain pan in heat exchange relationship with the auxiliary condenser. In this arrangement the defrost moisture is directed into the drain pan from the evaporator located in the food storage compartment and is evaporated by the heat from the auxiliary condenser.
While this is a convenient and efficient way of evaporating moisture, it does present some problems in that the operating compressor vibrates relative to its mount. Since the auxiliary condenser is connected to the compressor through relatively rigid tubing, the vibrations from the compressor are transferred to the auxiliary condenser and pan structure. This results in excessive noise and further possible damage from metal fatigue can occur.